Things progressed surprisingly smoothly. We kept finding little pockets of enemies that we had to deal with, but now we gave them the option of surrendering to standing trial. Their fate depended on which sort of vampire we were dealing with, sorting those who had seen working with the council as their only survival option from the true believers. The latter group would be shown the mercy of a pain free end.
Ivan, Bennett, and all the other vampires who were known to be extremely anti-human were finally bound in the council courtyard in the sun, much the same way I had had Magnus executed, with the exception that we had added fire to the mix to speed the process along.
As much as I had wanted to allow Ivan to wake up so I could properly gloat as I had with the first three, I was not such a fool as to risk it. He was unconscious as the flames licked at his flesh and the sun burned down on him, and remained so when he finally turned to ash.
Although Jamie and even I were too young to witness Ivan's and Bennett's final moment, we listened with rapt attention to the descriptions given by the attending humans.
There was satisfaction on Jamie's face that Ivan was gone. He would never be able to make another Jack.
We had ensnared a lot of other nasty characters in our net, and they were also executed without further mercy. The council data archives had extensive listings of some of their crimes. It was thoughtfully convenient of them to brag in such detail.
I also had Theo update my entry to something amusingly flattering, my final revenge against the council bores.
And then, of course, there were the meetings. I did not know why everyone was so fond of them, but they wanted to discuss every insignificant little thing from every minute angle, until I could bear it no longer. I pushed my weight around, and selected a council of five vampires, who would be joined by five humans. The humans would be democratically elected, and the vampires were appointed by me. If they resigned in the future, new replacements would be appointed by me as well. I liked the setup. It was power without tedium, just the way I liked it. I would also be stuck breaking any tie votes, which felt like a small tribute to the magistrate.
After I had awoken from my rest, but before Jamie had as well, I made my way back up to the rooftop. I had almost hoped to find nothing, but I found exactly what I expected, ashy clothing that I had seen the magistrate wearing the night before.
I volunteered to tell the lucky winners they had been appointed rather than let a messenger do it, because I wanted to see their expressions myself. Jamie came with me. Perhaps he was worried that I would annoy my councillors into violence. I first hunted down Drak, and conveniently he was sitting with Whitmore, another choice victim.
"Hello, you two," I said in a sunny voice.
Drak looked at me suspiciously and I continued before he could say anything. "Auspicious news! You're both on the new and improved council!"
"I—what?" Drak asked.
"You're on the council, Councillor Drak. And who said he could never get into the council?"
"How's it going to work?" Whitmore asked in a mildly curious tone. Her hair was pulled back up into her severe bun, but there were strands falling loose around her face. I had suspicions about what had caused that to happen before I arrived and I had difficulty keeping my amusement from my face.
"Oh, my advisors will explain all those details. They're working it out right now. If you hurry, you two can go to the meeting before it ends and maybe have your say."
Whitmore nodded, and a shocked Drak trailed after her.
"You better toughen up, Drak. Whitmore won't always be there to save you."
"Darn it, Vienne, I am not a helpless invalid."
I smiled sweetly. "No matter how capable you get, you'll always be a helpless invalid to me."
The next councillor was easy to locate, because she came looking for Jamie while I was looking for her.
I smiled at his sister when she arrived. Sure, it was probably second hand nepotism, but I liked her, because she was the one female who I could tolerate Jamie touching without ridiculous levels of completely unvampiric jealousy. Besides her anti-council attitude also appealed to me. She was definitely the sort of squishy human loving vampire I wanted on my new council.
"Hi," she said, oblivious to the way I was stalking her like a predator.
I smiled back at her disarmingly. "Hey, Jamie, tell her what was decided."
"Vienne," he began, emphasizing my name far more than was strictly necessary, "has appointed you to be a member of the new council."
"What? Why me?"
"I like your anti-council attitude. You'll keep them in line."
"But—"
"And if you hate it, you can resign after your mandatory fifty-year term is complete. They're having meetings ironing out the details right now. Hurry along."
The ancillary benefit to her appointment was that if she were occupied, she would interrupt my alone time with Jamie less.
After she stormed off, seemingly displeased, we went on a hunt for the last two. We searched the council building from top to bottom with no luck. I finally gave up, and went back to the dreary meetings that were happening, only to discover that both Davidson and Naomi were already there and had managed to worm their way into it, although why they would want to was beyond my understanding.
I indicated that they should both follow me out into the hall and they complied.
"What were you doing there?" I asked, not bothering to hide my displeasure.
Davidson showed no signs of guilt. "We wanted to see how things were going to be run."
I was torn between annoyance that they had wasted the time I had been searching for them and an impressed sort of surprise that they were so keen they had went this far to help with the reconstruction.
"Well, you're getting to see a lot more of that. Congratulations, I'm appointing you to council."
They both looked surprised.
"Get rid of that expression. We're trying to give humans rights. You're both perfect for that, etcetera, etcetera."
"Why appoint us and not yourselves?"
"I'm not really interested in the day to day workings. Picture this: I trust it to you two, and if I ever think you're doing a bad job I'll simply start a new rebellion and remove you from power," I suggested cheerfully.
"Or, you could, you know, mention your concerns first?" Naomi said dryly. I could have laughed.
"That's hardly any fun."
"And from what I heard in there you'll be able to eject members of either council with a majority vote."
"They're really trying to make my powers less arbitrary, aren't they?" I complained.
"I doubt that's what's happening." Davidson raised a skeptical eyebrow.
My sigh was drawn out and entirely for fun melodramatic flair. "I suppose I can tolerate that. Oh, and I almost forgot, I want you to submit a bill or whatever process they set up to commission a giant golden statue in the capital in tribute to me."
Davidson looked at me like I was crazy.
"What? A very clever human once gave me some excellent bill ideas."
"She's kidding," Jamie said.
I turned my head away from him and mouthed at my new appointees, "No, I'm not. I want a statue."
Naomi's expression made it almost impossible not to laugh and ruin my game. There was a certain comfort that I would be able to turn up and mess around with them whenever I got nostalgic.
Yet, not everything after the battle was as joyous as executing our enemies and revelling in the new order of things. The remains had to be dealt with.
All the humans were buried—friend, foe, or victim—in a graveyard that was set up outside the city. We had a mass memorial service, which I chose not to speak at. I received some surprised reactions at the decision, but I really had no desire to grandstand and pretend everything was fine when we had lost far more than I had been willing too.
Jamie stood beside me silently. I did not like the reckless waste represented by these deaths, and I had personally cared for many of these, my humans. I grieved their loss, and that overwhelming sadness made me angry, but now, I was angry at a council that no longer existed, for forcing me to take action against them.
I watched quietly as they interred each and every one. Possibly the worst was watching Marcel as they buried Kasha's body, because my fledgling's grief hurt me as much as my own. It was a cold comfort that Ivan was gone.
The graves were filled and marked with stones, but I would remember even when the stones had been worn away by the weather.
The dust of the vampires was a different matter. Some, like the magistrate's, were easy to identify and were given resting places of their own. Much of it was unidentifiable, and that ash was buried in the same unmarked grave, whether or not they had been friend or foe.
And of course, there was the ash from the executions, and that ash was dumped, by my request, into the old subway tunnels along with the other garbage.
When it was finally over, I walked away, Jamie's hand on my back in a show of support that felt both unfamiliar and...right.
Although we had not talked about anything.
It was not like me at all. I would avoid things because they were tedious, but never because...
Was I afraid? Surely not. It was terribly unvampiric to feel fear.
So, regardless of the nervous energy curling in my stomach, I resolved that we should speak of the future, if we were to have one beyond our planned diplomatic ventures together. I truly meant to bring up more dreadfully serious topics, but as time flowed from days to weeks as we continued to work to solidify the new power structure, we did everything but that. We were frequently busy and when we were alone, we tended towards more pleasurable occupations of our attention than dealing with the messy business of whatever it was that we were.
That was not to say that we had not spoken. As always, I spoke in dizzying circles, and he responded in his typical straightforward way. We said everything and nothing at all. I was becoming frustrated by my own cowardice, the very crime with which I had charged the council.
And so, after weeks away, I finally found myself back at home. The place was buzzing with activity and there were extra humans in residence. The wounded humans had been kept here because it had the best medical services available, and many of their families had come to help them during their recovery until they were well enough to go home.
Many humans had opted to return to the wilds, but more than I expected had decided to remain in my lands, which I was seriously considering renaming New Hollywood.
Nearly the moment I stepped out of my beautiful car, Leif was upon me, listing everything that needed my attention. I patiently listened, even as Jamie disappeared off to do his own thing deserting me with all the boring stuff. I followed Leif to my office, Madeline brought me a coffee, and I settled in to deal with a variety of things that had been neglected in my absence.
I bit my lip while he talked. Perhaps I would appoint a representative to deal with the day to day chores while we went to South America. I had already appointed Enrique as my representative while I was abroad, and I could surely do something similar here so that I did not come back to weeks of drudgery. Or I could just force a promotion upon Leif.
For now though, I was assaulted by piles of reports about this and that concern. In addition to my already extensive territory, I had requisitioned a few neighbouring parcels of land, including the mines formerly owned by Jon, and a lot of undeveloped space. One of his hirelings had been pardoned, so I put him in charge of managing it, with Marcel looming over his shoulder to ensure he stayed in line. I hoped it would give Marcel something to keep his mind off of Kasha's death.
When I finally escaped the dungeon of tedium Leif called his office, I hunted down Jamie. He was out in the training yard with a couple of my other former humans, but he stopped when he spotted me.
He was every bit as impressive as I had imagined he would be in his vampiric state, and my heart might almost have jumped at the sight of him, the slightly unruly hair and those deep brown eyes that barely showed the red of his nature, the lean muscles that I loved the feel of, whether human or vampire.
He had changed, as well. He had lost friends as I had, and things with his mentor were not going as well as we had hoped. Hadron had calmed, but perhaps whatever had made him human had been lost in the blood madness. We were not giving up yet, but it was not looking hopeful. I ached for his losses and I wanted to keep him distracted from his pain.
"Let's go outside," I suggested. "I want to show you my territory."
Jamie agreed immediately and we walked to the gates. He had become quite laid back and amiable, unless I pushed him too far.
The guards looked reproachful as we walked out, but I ignored the silent criticism. Things were settling down, and I was weary of living in a cage. I was powerful and Jamie was strong and skilled, we would be fine.
We ran through the darkness, not as fast as a car, but faster than any human, the wind whipping through the hair streaming from my back.
A mournful howl sounded in the distance, and I ran towards it. Jamie did not question my direction.
I slowed as we neared the source of the noise. A pair of coyotes trotted along through the darkness, thus far oblivious to our presence.
"Don't make loud noises, or sudden movements," I whispered as I slipped towards them. Jamie followed me, silent as a ghost.
Creeping forward, I glanced at his face. He was looking at them with interest. "I suppose you've never seen them up this close?" I whispered.
"They don't care that we're here," he commented, copying my low voice.
"Animals don't fear us much. I think they instinctively know that we are no threat to them. And why not? Their blood is toxic to us."
I watched him as he slowly brought his hand towards one of the coyotes, but it snarled and dodged away. Both dashed away, and then began to run faster still when I laughed at him. "They can still see us, of course. Movement spooks them."
Jamie shrugged. I laughed again.
"I wonder, if you have any idea how aggravating you can be," he commented, but his tone was light.
"What? Me? No, everyone adores me. I'm simply a delight."
"Maybe that too."
I grinned. I loved verbally sparring with this male.
He was quiet for a long moment. "What are we going to do now?"
"I can think of a couple of things." I smirked at him suggestively.
He returned my smile, his mind going exactly where I wanted it to go. The look in his eyes would have made my living heart leap long ago, I was certain. I daresay I would not nearly have been on the shelf if he had been around when I had been alive.
"I meant in general."
"Have you forgotten our upcoming trip south?"
"No, but after that?"
I decided to be serious. "Whatever we want. Whatever you want."
"You're planning to follow me around?"
"Sure. As long as you want me to, Jamie."
"That's a long time."
"Is it?"
He looked slightly uncomfortable, but his eyes were warm. "I can't get you out of my head, you might as well be with me as well."
The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I did not want to let them out because they were too momentous. But still, was I a cowardly councillor or Vienne, the founder of the human rebellion? I had said some of this once before, right before he stabbed me in the heart.
Maybe my unease was not entirely cowardice. "You know, Jamie, I am rather fond of you. Surprisingly so. I did not actually believe that it was possible for any vampire to care about anyone."
"You care about a lot of people, although it's hard to tell under your nasty mouth."
"Well, I never..." I put a hand to my mouth and opened my eyes wide with shock.
"I know you're not offended. You think it's amusing."
"Well, you're not wrong," I admitted begrudgingly. "But as I was saying, I did not think it was possible for a vampire to care about anyone as much as I care about you."
"Oh? You did love tormenting me."
"Not tormenting," I said and I frowned. Why was he being so obtuse? "I simply found your reactions...but that's not the point. The point is that there's something about you that I find irresistible."
He moved closer until he towered over me. "I would have guessed it was my blood, but now I think it's my body you can't get—"
"Jamie! I'm trying to say something here!"
"I know." He grinned shamelessly down at me.
"What?"
"You mean you don't like it when I do what you do?" he asked, and I could not even be properly angry since he looked so cute when he was full of mischief and false innocence.
I sighed. Turning my own tricks against me, was he?
"Aw, don't make that face, Vienne. You must have driven me insane, because I love you, too."
I blinked up at his face. The mischief had fled, leaving the unreadable mask I was so used to, but without all the human signs that I had once used to gauge his intent in the past. "Really?"
He shrugged. "Why not? I can't help it."
And for once, I could not think of anything else to say.
And it did not really matter anyway, because then my mouth was occupied in a much more delightful way.